At televised sporting events, it is traditional to have many skilled and well-paid camerapersons operating under control of a director. The director assigns camerapersons to perform tasks such as following movement of a football, or of a specific player such as a wide receiver or a quarterback; traditionally this following relies on optical cues and is performed manually to keep the assigned character or ball centered in the field of view. The director cuts from one camera feed to another camera as appropriate to follow the action. The high labor requirements for multiple camera operators result in high costs, so that only higher levels of play, such as NFL or collegiate games, get televised. It would be desirable to reduce these costs.
Other sports pose similar issues to football. During foot or horse racing events, it is desirable to have at least one cameraperson keep the leader of the race in his camera's field of view, while others may keep a local favorite or the current second-place runner or driver in his field of view; the director may then select between camera feeds for broadcasting as the race develops.
There is also a market for videos of a specific player or racer in many sports for player coaching and player-marketing purposes, as well as personal vanity of individual participants. Similarly, there is a market for videos of specific actors or dancers for audition and training purposes. Camera views needed for such player or participant-specific videos may differ from those selected for broadcasting.